Finishing the job

Les Ferdinand wants the Spurs U19s to beat Inter Milan in Italy on Thursday and top group four in the NextGen Series.

Les Ferdinand thinks the Spurs team entered in the NextGen Series deserve to progress from the first round of the tournament as group four winners.

The 44-year-old has been working alongside Tim Sherwood and Chris Ramsey with the Spurs U19 side taking part in the new competition, which features some of football's brightest young talents representing some of the game's biggest names, with the likes of Barcelona and Ajax also competing.

The team has flown to Italy to take on Inter Milan in the final match of group four, and Les is expecting a reaction from Inter; we beat them 7-1 at Leyton Orient's ground in August.

"Inter will be smarting from the last game. This has been a real good series for the boys and we've come up against some good sides and played some good football.

"We've made it this far doing so well and we can finish it off by beating Inter on Thursday and being top of the group. I think it's what the lads deserve because they've really applied themselves in this competition."

With wins over Basel, PSV and Inter already secured, we have clinched a quarter-final berth and will face Liverpool in the knockout stage if the team avoids defeat in Italy. But whatever the outcome of the tournament, Les thinks the NextGen Series has provided invaluable experience to our younger players.

"It's such a great competition. We've had the opportunity to go over to other grounds and see other facilities. When we entered the tournament we knew we would work with a set of boys we haven't really worked with before and they're the boys who are going to progress with the Development squad next year and the year after, so it's nice to have had a look at them.